I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

There we were, watching the football, and it’s heading to penalties. It’s nil-nil, a bit scrappy, Everton just edging it… and two minutes before the end of extra time, an ITV ident sweeps across the screen.

WHAT?! ADVERTS?! The game is still going on. The whole pub gasps for a bit. And, as if written by the gods, ITV sort out their technical cock-up and return to the game.

It’s 1-0 to Everton. Almost 120 minutes of pretty poor football and ITV miss the one bit of excitement in the whole game.

A shambles. Make no doubt about it — this was a MASSIVE blunder. Not helped by “it came at a bad time for us, sorry if you missed it” comment offered by the pundit team in the studio.

I can only hope it was gremlins rather than human error. And gremlins seem the likely option — as after the match ITV viewers were treated to a minute or so of this:

Oh dear.

I wonder if something more shameful happened. I wonder if the producer had rigged up the adverts to go on at a certain time — i.e. at the end of the extra time. Tradition on ITV is that right smack-bang on the end of extra time they’ll cut to ads before returning for the penalty shoot out. What they didn’t allow for here, then, was stoppage time, or just general delays that happen in any sporting event.

One word: FAIL.

On a serious note, is it about time the coverage of football on ITV is put under a little scrutiny? I think so.

First off, the pundits are awful. Clive Tyldesley couldn’t analyse a cabbage, let alone a football match. Compare ITV’s offerings with Sky and you’ll see a canyon of quality difference. And to think that when Sky first got the rights they were roundly criticised by many — they’re now streets ahead of both BBC and ITV.

Neither the Beeb or ITV have anyone even close to be as good as Jeff Stelling, or Andy Gray, or Richard Keys. Even the small-time pundits like Jamie Redknapp have more to say about the game. Hell, I’d rather have Kris Camara analysing football than Mark Lawrenson. Seriously.

Second, and this bears some importance with me, are we all forgetting the ITV Digital fiasco? Their failing to properly manage their contracts, coverage and finances has led to many football clubs being placed in severe financial straits. Cambridge United went into administration soon after the ITV deal collapsed. Many clubs are still suffering from the knock-on effect of the dodgy deal.

And thirdly… well… it’s just rubbish, isn’t it? The only time ITV get it somewhat right is on Champion’s League nights — and that, I’d argue, is only because the pictures are provided for them. All ITV have to do is commentate over it.

If anyone out there watched the Histon vs Leeds match early on in this year’s F.A Cup, you’ll have seen the terrible state of the cameras. Yes, it was raining hard, but a whole half without the camera being wiped? Jesus, what tosh. And what happened to giving a camera a shield from the weather?

Amateur stuff, it really is. Get football off ITV — no-one enjoys it.